Harrison’s Legacy in Action: Conservation
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2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. It is also the 125th anniversary of the National Forestry Reserve Act, the first step ever taken to empower the president to actively preserve our natural forest resources.
Did You Know?
HRRSON
While serving in the Senate in 1882, Benjamin Harrison introduced a bill to set apart land on the Colorado River. The bill failed, but in 1919 the Grand Canyon National Park was finally created.
New legislation in 2016 has jointly renamed The Indiana Heritage Trust and the Bicentennial Nature Trust funds. They will now be called the President Benjamin Harrison Conservation Trust Fund.
His efforts really ramped-up when he was president. In 1890, he asked Congress for legislation to provide protection for the great forests of the United States. After the act’s passing, Harrison set aside land in Wyoming to form the nation’s first forest reserve. He proceeded to use the act 17 times, protecting land in Colorado (including Pikes Peak), Oregon, California, Washington, New Mexico Territory, Alaska Territory, and Arizona Territory. In 1907, forest reserves were renamed “national forests.” As a boy, Harrison was educated in a log cabin school in a North Bend, Ohio farming community. He grew up surrounded by nature, and fishing was his favorite childhood activity. As an adult, it was difficult for him to slow down and he rarely gave himself permission to stop working. After laboring to the brink of exhaustion, nothing was more rejuvenating for him than a walk in the woods. Perhaps it was his own childhood beckoning him back to draw peace from the wonders of the natural world. Conservation was a matter of course for Harrison, even at a time in our nation’s history when nature itself was at odds with the American spirit of innovation, construction, and expansion. General John W. Noble spoke of Harrison’s policy:
“The policy of conserving the nation’s natural resources arose from President Harrison’s quick appreciation of the danger there would be to the national life by the destruction of our forests. The first impressive appeal for such a policy came when he, in January 1890, transmitted to Congress a memorial from the “American Association for the Advancement of Science,” and recommended that adequate steps be taken to prevent the rapid destruction of our great forest areas and the loss of our water supplies. There was need of immediate action, and six reservations were created within the term by presidential proclamations, embracing an area of more than three and a quarter million acres.” While Theodore Roosevelt deserves many accolades for transforming lands into parks, no president did more to make this possible than Benjamin Harrison. --- Jennifer Capps, VP of Curatorship & Exhibition
The new name reflects Indiana’s pride in Harrison’s pioneering conservation efforts and will be used to preserve significant natural resources in our state for generations to come.
Did You Know? Harrison opened our second, third, and fourth national parks, set aside the first military park, the first urban park, and the first prehistoric Indian Ruin to come under federal protection, Casa Grande, in Arizona. On September 25, 1890, Sequoia National Park was created. The Yosemite Reserves Act was passed on October 1, 1890 and signed into law by Harrison, creating Yosemite National Park. That same day, Harrison added land to Sequoia and created General Grant National Park. Sitka National Historical Park has the distinction of being the oldest federally designated park in Alaska. It was designated as a federal park by Harrison on June 21, 1890. As president, Harrison took afternoon walks after rising early and working all morning. No wonder he signed legislation creating Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C.! A wooded valley through the nation’s capital, the park is a rare example of natural preservation in an urban setting. It is still enjoyed by public officials and visitors alike.